RossP

The Sheep are on fire… pray for snow! Sunday will see Inverness host Aberdeen where a win for either side will secure second position for now. An Aberdeen win will put them only two points behind leaders Celtic who slipped up by drawing at home to Ross County who hit the bottom again, despite this battling point at Parkhead. Inverness have hit their customary Xmas slump, losing their last two fixtures whilst the Dons are on a bit of a roll with six wins in their last seven games, the only loss coming against Celtic. They will be looking to make it five in a row whereas Inverness will be hoping to stop the rot after two consecutive defeats. Transfer speculation is rife around Inverness and Graeme Shinnie is the subject of most of it. Aberdeen are one of a few clubs allegedly putting a package together hoping to attract the Caley Jags vice captain to the East, but Birmingham City might be more lucrative for Graeme and the opportunity to join up with his brother, Andy in the English championship. Josh Meekings, Gary Warren, Aaron Doran, Marley Watkins and Billy McKay are all key figures at the Caledonian Stadium, but the January transfer window is looming large and that's always an uncomfortable time for selling clubs. RossP has taken time off from his Xmas duties to put together this excellent preview for us......................... Inverness Caledonian Thistle host Aberdeen in this festive fixture, where both sides will be desperate to take advantage of title challenger Celtic’s Saturday slip to relegation fodder Ross County. Also with the good form of top six challengers Hamilton and St Johnstone, John Hughes and Derek McInnes really cannot afford to drop points this weekend. Recent form There’s not much of a pattern to the results between the two sides, each earning 5 wins in the last 13 games with the remaining fixtures ending in a draw (including the Cup Final in March). Inverness CT had been sitting pretty with Celtic at the top of the SPFL a mere two fixtures ago… before a capitulation against Partick Thistle and further dropped points against the form team in the country St Johnstone caused a tumble down the table. Whilst some of the embarrassment from the Partick game was rectified with a fairly solid performance last weekend, fans will be worried that this slump is the start of our almost annual decline in results over the winter period. Aberdeen could hardly be in better form going into Sunday’s game, where they have 7 league wins out of 8; all with clean sheets. As was the case last season many of their results were won by one goal, and with such a Scrooge-like defence if they go a goal up they will likely see the game out for a win. Their fans have also been excitedly looking at the SPFL table and predicted that two wins from their next two games would see them sit top of the league. Dangermen Rather than focus on Goodwillie and McGinn who have the most assists in the league, or the multitude of ex-ICT players now playing in red; I’ll instead highlight Ryan Jack who should be starring for Scotland according to the Dons fans (the same bunch that were incandescent at the exclusion of players like Anderson, Langfield, Reynolds and Pawlett from the national side). Despite their red tinted glasses giving them an unrealistic analysis of Jack’s ability it does need to be said that he is a very effective player and one that will cause Tansey significant worry in the middle of the pitch. Strong in the tackle, quick to move the ball and a great ‘football brain’ to find space to operate, he could play at English Championship level - which he will definitely have to in order to jump ahead of Scotland fringe players like Arfield, Bryson, McDonald, Bridcutt and Cairney who all deserve to be selected ahead of Jack in my opinion. Shay Logan is a player who will probably spend more time in our half than his own and that is where his best strength lies. A fast and direct full back, He found great joy in the last fixture between ICT and Aberdeen counterattacking in the space that Shinnie left when stranded up the pitch. Had his crossing matched his shooting that day, the 3-2 scoreline could have been much worse for ICT. With Logan pushing up the pitch it will allow extra numbers of Aberdeen's attacking players to operate in the ICT penalty area - a worrying sign when all have already scored several goals this season. Team news Inverness have lost Ross Draper for two games due to a needless reaction in the St Johnstone match earning him a straight red card. Whilst many of his team mates came to his defence in the national press, it is increasingly apparent that his reckless challenges warrant the referee attention he’s been receiving. With Draper missing, Hughes has to decide whether to install Vincent, Shinnie, Williams, Polworth or Ross in the CM role next to Tansey. With his comments at looking to avoid ringing changes I would anticipate that Vincent will play in the middle instead of his usual ineffective position on the right of midfield, allowing Watkins to come back into the starting line up. Aberdeen usually have an injury crisis when we meet, but on Sunday they will only be missing long term absentees Anderson, Flood and Low. McInnes has demonstrated a tactical masterclass in the forward positions, playing nearly all his players in ‘unfamiliar’ positions and still inspiring positive performances and results. This will probably continue with the only question mark being whether Goodwillie will pay for his petulant reaction after being substituted against Kilmarnock. RossP Prediction Many ICT fans commented last weekend that we are looking increasingly toothless up front and that the chances we were once creating are now increasingly harder to come by. Perhaps opposition teams have discovered if they press our defence and midfield whilst squeezing their back line forward, we are prone to errors similar to the short passback from Ryan Christie which led to the Brian Graham dive for the winning penalty. This will likely be on John Hughes’ mind when selecting his team and tactics for the weekend, where Aberdeen will at times be pushing Logan into wide midfield whilst the fluid attacking midfield of Pawlett, Hayes, Jack, McGinn, Rooney and Goodwillie are constantly interchanging positions. This may be a match where we have to surrender the possession play that Hughes craves in order to play a more direct game where Watkins, Mckay and our wide men look to challenge for the ball in the Aberdeen corners of the pitch – a tactic the team learned under former manager Terry Butcher. If this is indeed his tactic, expect the guile of Ryan Christie and Aaron Doran to be sacrificed for the energy and physicality of Danny Williams and James Vincent. As an ICT fan who has lived and worked in Aberdeen for over a decade, this is the fixture I want to win most. Dons fans are a smug bunch (when things are going well for their team) and this year I’ve found it even more nauseating if you add in their slavering of reported target Shinnie. I unfortunately don’t see us getting a win in this fixture as the Dons are playing extremely confidently and with a big support backing them, it wouldn’t surprise me if they ran out comfortable winners by one or two goals. I’d love to be proven wrong though!